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All About Dinghy Towing Part II – Tow Equipment & Supplemental Brakes

July 9, 2011 by libertatemamo 22 Comments

All hooked up and ready to go!

I’ve kept you in suspense all day (I’m sure), but finally we come to the 2nd exciting part of our towing mini-series. This is where we get to the guts of the topic, so to speak, and talk about how you actually attach your tow vehicle to your motorhome. There are a ton of ways to do this and I won’t cover all of them, but I’ll try to go through the most popular choices and finish off with what we went went with in our set-up. Oh and be warned…this is loooong…

1/ Towing Options

A typical tow dolly. Image from AdventureRV.net

There are 3 main kinds of tow options out there for your car.

  • Towing “4-Down” – If you have a car that can tow “4-down” (all 4 wheels on the ground) then it makes sense to  exercise that option.
    PROs – Towing 4-down is (by far) the easiest way to tow a car. There’s less fiddling in camp and minimal external equipment.
    CONs – Towing 4-down can be a more expensive option and requires an attachment on your car, plus potentially other installed equipment. Some cars may need special modifications (e.g. drive-shaft disconnects or lube pump) to allow 4-down towing.
  • Using a Dolly– For cars that can’t be towed “4-down” or for those looking for a more flexible option  a dolly may make sense. Dolly’s are designed to lift the front 2 wheels off the ground, leaving the back 2 down.
    PROs – Dolly’s can be used on any front-wheel-drive automatic without modifications to the car. One dolly can be shared between multiple cars.
    CONs – More fiddling in camp and an extra piece of equipment to carry around and store at your campsite.
  • Using a Trailer – In this case you drive the car into a separate trailer and tow that behind the RV. This is a popular option with classic cars.
    PROs – Any kind of car can be towed this way without modification, and the trailer provides protection from road damage.
    CONs – A large, bulky extra piece of equipment on the road which affects your overall weight (GCWR) and may also limit where you’re able to stay.

As you can imagine, we went with the 4-down option. In our mind it’s the easiest and most compact way to tow your car. There’s no extra equipment to haul around, nothing to “store” in camp and set-up/take-down is a cinch easily handled by one person. For the rest of the post I’ll focus on the equipment for 4-down towing.

2/ Chosing a Tow Bar

The Blue Ox Aladdin tow bar

If you’ve decided to tow 4-down one of your first questions will be what kind of tow bar to get. There are 5 main things to look for in a tow bar:

  • Weight Ratings – Make sure to chose a tow bar that matches or exceeds the weight of your tow vehicle. This should be true of all your tow equipment.
  • Rigid vs Self-Aligning – The cheapest type of tow-bar is a rigid A-frame, but this is bulky and requires the car to be precisely aligned behind the frame before you can hook-up. Most modern towbars are “self-aligning” meaning that you can adjust/extend the arms individually to line up with your car. The self-aligning types do not require precise alignment, are far easier to use and can be folded up compactly when not hooked up.
  • Car Mounted vs Motorhome Mounted – Some tow-bars are mounted to your car while others are mounted on the motorhome. The car-mounted bars fold up and stay on the front of your car when you’re not hooked up. Motorhome mounted bars fold up and stay on the motorhome. The motorhome type are (by far) the most popular kind these days.
  • Release Handles – The newer tow bars all have some kind of quick-release handle that allows you to easily release the “lock” on the tow bar once you decide to unhook. This allows the towbar to be easily unhooked no matter what the angle of the bar or car. RVers without this option often complain about the car getting “stuck” and having to fiddle around to get it loose. In my mind having this little feature is key.
  • Baseplates – If you chose a motorhome-mounted bar, you’ll need some kind of baseplate on your tow vehicle to which you attach the bar. Baseplates are custom designed for each tow vehicle and some are more visible than others. The most visible type are bolted right on the front of your vehicle. The least visible are custom deals welded neatly underneath the car.

The two most popular tow bar makers are Roadmaster and Blue Ox. Both have excellent reputations and you really can’t go wrong with either.

3/ Supplemental Braking

The Patriot 500 braking system. This has to be installed everytime you use it.

Once you’ve decided on a tow bar your next challenge is whether or not to get a supplemental braking system. The way this works is that when you brake in the RV, a brake is also applied to your tow car. There’s alot of debate on this topic amongst RVers. Some states legally require them (over a certain weight), but some do not or the towing laws are ambiguous/confusing. 10 years ago supplemental braking was unheard of and many RVers have gone for years without.

Personally we considered this a “must have”. Our 400hp diesel engine is more than capable of handling the load but I do not like the idea of 3,500 lbs pushing on the back of the RV, particularly in an emergency braking situation.  When we drive in the mountains I can feel the effect of the supplemental toad brakes, and if we’re ever in a situation where the car gets loose from the motorhome I know our system will stop it dead. It’s a peace of mind that I wouldn’t go without. Here’s some things to consider in a system:

  • Portable vs Permanently Installed – Some braking systems require that you set-up and remove equipment inside the tow car everytime you use them. These are portable from one car to another, but it does mean that you haul around the equipment. Others systems are permanently installed. These require more serious up-front installation, but have the advantage of no extra equipment and easier set-up/take-down in camp.
  • Pre-Set vs Proportional – The simplest systems are pre-set braking systems. These simply apply a pre-set (fixed) amount of braking upon receiving a signal from the RV that its brakes have been applied. Proportional systems go one further and will brake in proportion to either the rate of deceleration or the pressure applied on the brake in the motorhome (so the harder you brake up-front, the harder the brake applied in the toad). The latter provides some extra safety margin and is worth having in the mountains.
  • Direct vs Vacuum Assist – If you’re going for a permanent installation you have the option of getting more fancy with either direct or vacuum assist systems.
    -> Direct Systems provide proportional braking, but with a little extra pizzaz. They connect directly into your motorhome’s air or hydraulic brake system providing much better/faster response time. These kinds of systems are a good choice for heavier tow vehicles.
    -> Vacuum (Power) Assist Systems are another slant. They activate the power-assist function of your tow vehicle’s brakes which means the brake pedal is depressed with the same intensity as if you were physically behind its wheel at the time. They are not typically proportional systems (there is one exception I know of – see below), but they allow for much smoother braking with less wear and tear on the toad. This is a popular choice for long-distance towing.
  • Sensitivity Adjustments – Most new braking systems allow you to set thresholds on when they “kick in” and/or control the sensitivity of braking pressure that gets to the toad. Some allow you make this adjustment from the motorhome.
  • Breakaway System – Most of the nicer braking systems offer an in-built breakaway system that stops your car dead if it separates from the motorhome. On some systems this not available or is an optional add-on.
  • Audible & Visual Communication – The better braking systems give you some kind of audible and/or visual alarm in the motorhome when they activate the brakes or if the toad gets loose. Communication from the toad to the motorhome can be wired or wireless. This is a really nice safety feature that lets you know exactly what the brakes are doing.

There are several manufacturers of braking systems including SMI, Blue Ox, Roadmaster, Brakebuddy, US Gear and others. This page provides a good intro to supplemental braking and this page has a neat overview of manufacturer choices.

4/ And Our Answer Was….?

Assuming you’ve survived reading the post I’ll give you the drumroll and reveal our choices.

Our Roadmaster Tow-Bar folded neatly up on “the beast” for in-camp use

For tow-bar it was a bit of a toss-up between the 2 “big” manufacturers. In the end we chose the Roadmaster Falcon All-Terrain. It can handle 6,000 lbs (more than enough for our 3,500lb CR-V), is flexible, has self-adjusting arms and includes that all-important easy-release lever (Roadmaster call it the “freedom latch”) .

For our baseplate we chose a custom option welded directly onto the under-frame of the CR-V. It’s barely visible and rock solid.

For supplemental braking the choice was alot more complicated. We knew up-front that we wanted a permanently installed system and we really liked the idea of vacuum assist, but we also wanted some kind of proportional braking as well as the ability to adjust sensitivity and have audible alarms in the motorhome in case of issues. An impossible wish-list perhaps? As it turns out the US Gear Unified Tow Brake (TV-1000) provides it all. US Gear are, in fact, the only manufacturer I know that provides both vacuum assist and proportional braking (sensed via deceleration rate of the coach). Not the cheapest option out there, but a really neat and elegant solution. By the way the alarm system was key and has already saved our toad from accidental damage a couple of times by alerting us to a bad hookup and an unexpected application of the brake (without the alarm our toad brakes would’ve fried).

The custom baseplate on our car. It’s nicely inconspicuous.

The entire lot was installed by County RV in Santee Lakes, CA.

So far we’ve been very happy with our system. Set-up is a simple matter of attaching the flexible arms of the tow-bar, plugging in the wiring harness and inserting the breakaway line. It’s visually a very simple solution, doesn’t require us to haul around any extra equipment, packs away easy and works flawlessly.

And if you read all that to the end I salute you. Back to regular programming tomorow….

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« All About Dinghy Towing Part I – Toads
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We LOooVE Comments, So Please Do

  1. Seth Johnson says

    July 9, 2011 at 9:03 pm

    This was a really great and useful summary. Thanks for writing it up and sharing it.

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      July 10, 2011 at 7:46 am

      So very happy it’s useful! Nina

      Reply
  2. Alain says

    July 10, 2011 at 2:58 am

    Thank you Nina!

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      July 10, 2011 at 7:47 am

      You’re most welcome! Nina

      Reply
  3. heyduke says

    July 10, 2011 at 6:33 am

    so which Unified Brake system did you use on your CRV?

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      July 10, 2011 at 7:43 am

      We used the TV-1000. Sorry, should’ve made that clear in the post. I’ll update it.
      The systems from US Gear are pretty much all the same. The UTH is a new verson for towed vehicles equipped with electric hydro-boost power brakes and the TV/TVH versions are for pre-wired coaches. This page shows the differences:
      http://www.usgear.cc/utb_appprice.htm
      Nina

      Reply
  4. Roxanne says

    July 10, 2011 at 7:47 am

    We considered selling our Prius and buying a car we could town 4-down, but we decided to use what we had. The dolly is a little challenging, but we haven’t done it another way, so I can’t compare.

    This is a good article – thanks.

    Roxanne

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      July 10, 2011 at 9:36 am

      I’ve seen lots of folks w/ the dolly. It’s an understandable choice if you don’t have a toad that can do 4-down. Glad you liked the article 🙂
      Nina

      Reply
  5. Syl says

    July 10, 2011 at 7:57 am

    I can’t imagine going on the road without a toad. We have a 2007 Suzuki Grand Vitara 4×4 and bought it new because we knew that it could be toad four down without any modifications. It’s just our size and suits us well.
    We use a Blue Ox tow bar and base plate. We have a brake system that’s a little different because it works on inertia. It’s a Ready Brake but we plan to get a vacuum assist system when we upgrade to a diesel in a few years.
    Great informative posts by the way.
    Syl

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      July 10, 2011 at 9:33 am

      So with you on having a toad. We love the freedom of it!
      The Suzuki is a great car…nice toad!
      Very happy the post was informative.
      Nina

      Reply
  6. Linda Sand says

    July 10, 2011 at 11:35 am

    We also have the Roadmaster All-terrain on our CR-V but we have the SMI Air Force One brake system that uses our coach’s air brakes to activate the car’s brakes. I love the ease of connecting/disconnecting it when hitching/unhitching.

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      July 10, 2011 at 12:10 pm

      The SMI is also a great braking system. Looks like you have a nice set-up!
      Nina

      Reply
  7. Yair says

    July 10, 2011 at 9:37 pm

    Wow. The things you don’t know when you’re not towing a vehicle!

    Reply
  8. Alain says

    July 11, 2011 at 3:09 am

    Hello Nina, per this : http://www.usgear.cc/magazine/utb_monaco.htm your MH should have been pre-wired and could of use TV-1000K. Do you know why it was not possible for you guys? Regards, Alain

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      July 11, 2011 at 7:50 am

      Alain,
      You are right! Discussed this over w/ the hubby and we did indeed get the TV-1000. They put UTB-1000 on the invoice
      (which is what confused me), but they used the pre-wired kit for the actual install.
      So, I stand corrected. Our coach did come pre-wired.
      Nina

      Reply
  9. Michael Roberts says

    October 15, 2014 at 7:12 pm

    Thank you for this opportunity to ask some questions.
    I pull a 40 foot Winnebago journey with a Cat and an Allison transmission. Behind it is a 2007 Saturn Suv.
    The coach, of course, has air brakes. The Saturn tow car is fitted with blue ox towing kit. I have a Falcon 2 hitch from my other RV. Blue Ox is in the process of getting the adapters enroute to hook the Falcon 2 up to the blue ox system. The dilemma I have is the previous owner of the Saturn went to a lot of expense to hook up a hydraulic add-on braking system so he could tow it behind an RV. How do I make the existing hydraulic system on the tow car coincide with my air brake system on the RV? Where do I go to acquire what is needed?

    Thank you for your time and assistance.

    Respectfully,

    Michael Roberts
    Las Cruces New Mexico

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      October 20, 2014 at 4:01 pm

      Sorry about the late reply (I don’t always get around to all my comments). I honestly have no idea how to make the two hydraulic systems work. My advice would be to pose this same question on one of the big RV forums (RV.net or iRV2.com) since there’s a good chance someone on there has come up against this same issue. Or….contact a shop that deals with braking systems.

      Sorry I couldn’t be more help!

      Nina

      Reply
  10. Sherry says

    September 16, 2016 at 2:43 pm

    Nina this is wonderful. We are setting up for 4 down and getting rid of our dolly. I’m just wondering if you are still happy with all of your choices? You are my guru of research!!

    Reply

Trackbacks

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    […] #split {}#single {}#splitalign {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;}#singlealign {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;}#splittitlebox {text-align: center;}#singletitlebox {text-align: center;}.linkboxtext {line-height: 1.4em;}.linkboxcontainer {padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px;background-color:#eeeeee;border-color:#000000;border-width:0px; border-style:solid;}.linkboxdisplay {padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px;}.linkboxdisplay td {text-align: center;}.linkboxdisplay a:link {text-decoration: none;}.linkboxdisplay a:hover {text-decoration: underline;} function opensingledropdown() { document.getElementById('singletablelinks').style.display = ''; document.getElementById('singlemouse').style.display = 'none'; } function closesingledropdown() { document.getElementById('singletablelinks').style.display = 'none'; document.getElementById('singlemouse').style.display = ''; } Why You Should Consider A Quality Towbar, Not A Cheap OneWhy You Should Buy A Quality Towbar, Instead Of A Cheap OneReasons You Should Buy A Quality Towbar, Not A Cheap OneTowbars – Some Things To Consider When Looking To Buy OneA Guide To A Suitable TowbarWhy Going Cheap On A Towbar Won't Save You MoneyLatest rv towbars news – Tow Bar Roadmaster Stowmaster Rv Towbar Towing SystemLatest rv towbars news – Tow Bar Roadmaster Stowmaster Rv Towbar Towing SystemAll About Dinghy Towing Part II – Tow Equipment & Supplemental Brakes […]

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